It is well-known to construct a building with traditional siding used as an outer covering or cladding to protect the building from the effects of weather and perhaps even to provide insulation to the building. On a building that uses siding, the siding may act as part of the aesthetic beauty of the structure. Many different types of siding systems have been used in the past and may include panels, boards, and shingles. It may be important to consider the kind of attachment system used when connecting siding panels so as to avoid wind and rain infiltration through the joints. This may be resolved by overlapping, by covering or sealing the joint, or even by creating an interlocking joint such as a tongue and groove. Since building materials expand and contract with changing temperature and humidity, it may not be practical to make rigid joints between siding elements and it may not be practical to provide wide solid wood siding elements as they may crack and deteriorate over time.
Generally, wood panels may include a composite wood and veneer component as discussed in US Patent Application Publication No. US2006/0032167A1 to Cecilio et al., hereby incorporated by reference herein. Interlockable panels have been used in the past such as discussed in US Patent Application Publication No. US2003/0041545A1 to Stanchfield et al., hereby incorporated by reference herein. Further, panel mounting arrangement systems as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,193 to Sommerstein et al., hereby incorporated by reference herein, provides a panel attachment system using support pins adapted to be inserted along slots within panels.
The present invention, in its various embodiments, recognizes and addresses these and other problems by providing wide siding systems and methods with interlocking and even durable panels, perhaps even having an appearance of wide solid wood paneling such as in resolving the issue of cracking and weathering of past solid wood paneling.